Category: British aircraft
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Four – Is This A Decal Or A Tarpaulin?
I spent one morning recently decalling airplanes – a simple but delightful exercise in cut and paste. The surfaces of the planes were a clear smooth gloss and the first two decal sets – from Hobby Boss – were all that you could want. They were not pretentious markings – just stars, numbers, and a…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Three – The Grey Ghost
I am currently working with three bottles of undercoat paint – but not because I need to. Any one of the three choices would be fine…except I cannot resist trying new brews as they appear in the hobby shop. I am perfectly satisfied with Tamiya undercoat in the spray can and have used up many…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Two – The Patchwork Quilt
I am always in awe of the kit builder who has every seam perfect, every wheel straight, and every panel line scribed out. Awe and horror. Awe, horror, and unreasoning anger… Well, it’s not quite that bad, but I do regard perfection with some suspicion. Fortunately the Matchbox Spitfire Mk IX is a very soothing…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part One – Never Look A Gift Kit In The Box
I was at dinner with a group of friends in Sydney when one of them pulled out a couple of old 1:72 kits from a shopping bag. They were historic remainders from his teenage stash…and as he’s distanced from that somewhat, they are truly historic. One’s a Matchbox Spitfire and one’s an Airfix Buccaneer. I…
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Good Morning, Walter – Part Nine – The Mistake
Well, Walter I am going to let you into a secret – I make mistakes in my Little Workshop. This one’s not the first one I’ve made when building my Little World. I suspect it won’t be the last. The grey Spitfire model you see at the top of the page looks pretty well weathered…
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The Expert Review Vs The Actual Experience
If you read my column thinking that you’ll get cutting-edge expertise and the very latest technical reviews, you are in for a sad time. I am not a master modeller. I may be an expert tease, but the only cutting edges around my Little Workshop are generally biting into my fingers and thumbs when I…
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Consolidated Liberator B. VI – Part Nine – The Roll-Out
Well, as Marty of Marty’s Matchbox Makeovers says, ” I’m happy with that… “. ( I highly recommend his YouTube videos on toy car restoration. ) The Airfix Liberator was never going to be better than its moulding would let it be – and there were issues in the fuselage fit and the decals for…
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Consolidated Liberator B. VI – Part Eight – Decalcomania
That was always the way it was written in the older English instruction sheets – decalcomania. Until i started doing the artwork on the Liberator I didn’t make the connection between decals and mania. I have learned much in two days. That’s how long it has taken to put on all the horrible little stencils…
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Consolidated Liberator B VI – Part Seven – Olive Drab is The Colour of My True Love’s Heart
Or ” I love the smell of Olive Drab lacquer in the morning. It smells like victory “. Some colour schemes call to people like the sirens on the rocks – they lure modellers on to destruction. I would say this of French three-colour camouflage and commemorative airshow paint jobs. Even if half of the…
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Consolidated Liberator B. VI – Part Six – Old Mould
I must admit that I am torn many ways in writing about the Consolidated Liberator kit from Airfix that I am currently engaged upon: a. It is an old kit. When this was first released I was in the 10th grade. I am older than that now…71 to be exact…and I suspect I have aged…
The Little World 